Biograghy

Erich Maria Remarque was born in Germany in 1898 to a very modest household. At the age of 18 he was drafted into the military to fight in World War 1(Taylor). His time spent in the army would serve as inspiration for his later novels and cause him to feel restless and jump from job to job. After the war, he was a teacher for about a year, but felt he was unappreciated and that he wasn't teaching anything truly meaningful. His problems with the education system and it's influence had a strong effect on his writing later. He had several other jobs such as a race car driver and a journalist before pursuing writing full time. His most notable novel was All Quiet on the Western Front. It was largely autobiographical and set the precedent for his future novels. When World War 2 started, he had to flee Germany with his first wife, Ilse Jutta Zambona, never to return because his books were banned by Hitler in 1933. He briefly visited the United States where he met his second wife, an American movie star named Paulette Goodard and divorced his first. He spent the rest of his life in Switzerland until his death in 1970 (Taylor). After All Quiet on the Western Front, Remarque struggled to try to match it's success and never quite manged it. His first novel haunted him the rest of his life and so after his permanent move to Switzerland he seldom released new works with long intervals in between them.


Taylor, Marvin J. "The Life and Writings of Erich Maria Remarque." New York University. New York University Library, n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2015.